As it is, San Jose will spend the rest of the season in familiarfashion: biting its nails, nervously monitoring out-of-townscores and sweating every point as it struggles to squeeze intothe final Western Conference playoff spot. That the Sharks areeven on the postseason bubble is a testament to Nolan's newfoundability to carry a team.

Power forwards such as Nolan have soft hands around the net anddeliver hard checks all over the ice. While not among the bestknown brothers in this fraternity, which boasts stars such asEric Lindros of the Flyers and Keith Tkachuk of the Coyotes, the6'1", 210-pound Nolan is the power forward having the bestseason. After scoring a total of 33 goals in his previous twocampaigns, the 28-year-old Nolan, a right wing, had 40 throughSunday, second in the league to Panther Pavel Bure's 46, and 78points, third in the league.

It's not unusual to see the Belfast-born Nolan get his Irish upon the ice. "He's got a crazy edge," says linemate VincentDamphousse, "a look in his eyes that puts fear in the otherplayers. When the defensemen know he's coming up on them, theytend to give up the puck a little quicker. There's more room whenOwen is on the ice."

In a somewhat silly and subjective attempt to quantify toughness,the NHL now keeps a statistic called "hits," which tracks thenumber of bodychecks by each player. No other player in the topfive in scoring was within 90 of Nolan's 192 hits through Sunday.On consecutive nights in late January he fought the Canucks'6'3", 225-pound Todd Bertuzzi to a draw and won a decision overIslanders enforcer Gino Odjick. Nolan picked both fights, thoughhe had no gripe with either guy. "Our team, me included, was in afunk," he says. "I figured I'd try to spark some excitement."

He spoke while squinting through a swollen and sutured lefteyelid that had been sliced two nights earlier by a Red Wing'sinadvertent high stick. Nolan's goal in that game was his 40th,making him the first Shark ever to reach that milestone. Moreimportant, it earned San Jose, which was in eighth place in theWestern Conference at week's end, a 1-1 tie at a time when itneeds every point it can get. After bolting to the best start infranchise history (8-1-0-0), the Sharks have looked more liketheir old selves, having failed to win back-to-back games sinceearly December. "I always thought he was a very good player, butI didn't know he could play to this level," says San Jose wingerTony Granato. "He's been our best player almost every game. Itseems that Owen's been part of every important goal we'vescored."

Why should Granato or anyone else be surprised by Nolan's play?He had a total of 78 goals in his first two full NHL seasons. Thequestion isn't Where did this guy come from? Rather, it should beWhere has he been?

Selected by the Nordiques with the first pick of the 1990 draft,Nolan started his NHL career strongly, but in October 1995 he wastraded to San Jose for defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh. By then theNordiques had become the Avalanche, which was on the cusp of theStanley Cup. The Sharks were one of the worst teams in theleague. "Let's face it," says San Jose general manager DeanLombardi. "When he got here, we weren't good."

The brooding Nolan didn't need much of a reason to go into afunk. Trading places with Ozolinsh and then watching his Coloradobuddies win the Cup discouraged him. He had a decent season in1996-97, but in '97-98 and '98-99 combined, he scored nine fewergoals than he had in his first full NHL season (42). "They wereugly times," says Nolan. "We were a defensive team, we never hada lot of offensive players, and when I did get opportunities, Ididn't take advantage of them."

Even as he struggled to regain his scoring touch, Nolan polishedother aspects of his game--defense, play away from the puck andfighting. "You've got to give Owen credit," says coach DarrylSutter. "He's learned a lot about the game--and about himself."

The most frequently cited reason for Nolan's return to prominenceis his decision to engage in off-season activity more taxing thanhis beloved boar hunting. After the Sharks' first-round playoffloss to Colorado, he spent last summer pumping iron and going ontorturous mountain bike rides with Jeff Friesen, San Jose'sfitness fanatic. "In his draft year he could outpower you andoutskate you," says Lombardi. "That part of his skating wasn'tthere the last couple years. This year it's back."

And so is he.

--Austin Murphy

COLOR PHOTO: BOB ROSATO Nolan has more than doubled his goal total of 1998-99.